Scott P. Hays

Innovation and reinvention in state policymaking: theory and the evolution of living will laws.

Most research on the diffusion of policy innovations focuses on the date of adoption and its correlates. This research examines an aspect of innovation which has received little attention: policy reinvention during the initial diffusion process and through amendment. The central proposition is that even though a set of laws or policies may be grouped into one broad, general category, states create substantively different policies through reinvention, which has important consequences for groups affected by the legislation. Hypotheses concerning the relationship between date of adoption and policy content and the effect of particular controversial policy provisions on reinventions are examined. The study has general implications for the study of the diffusion of innovations and policy in state politics.

Capacity for effectiveness: the relationship between coalition structure and community impact

This article examines how the structural characteristics of community coalitions are related to three different measures of community impact by 28 Illinois coalitions. The primary finding is that different structural characteristics are related to the three different community impacts. The implications of these findings for coalition planning are considered.

The Role of Agenda Setting in Policy Innovation An Event History Analysis of Living-Will Laws

In this article we link theoretically and empirically the process of agenda setting to the diffusion of innovations across the American states. We use independent variables that reflect both agenda setting and the specific state context, and we hypothesize that a combination of these variables affects the likelihood of policy adoption in the various states. Employing event history analysis of pooled cross-sectional time series data on the adoption of living-will laws, we find that the best model of living-will adoptions includes both agenda setting and state context variables. Our findings demonstrate the importance of linking agenda setting with internal state characteristics to reach a more complete explanation of state policy making.

Influences on Reinvention During the Diffusion of Innovations

This study considers how states change policy innovations as they diffuse. This process, known as reinvention, has been the subject of recent innova tion diffusion research (Mooney and Lee 1995; Glick and Hays 1991). This paper examines the role of controversy in structuring the nature of reinvention, creating a more fully specified model of the causes of reinven tion. This research is a comparative analysis of the evolution of provisions of three policy innovations: child abuse reporting laws, crime victim com pensation law, and public campaign funding laws. The data show that vary ing levels of controversy affect the nature of policy reinvention and that reinvention results from a combination of social learning, political charac teristics, and contextual factors.

Community Risk and Protective Factors and Adolescent Substance Use

This paper researches the impact of the contextual characteristics of the community on self-reported 8th grade ATOD use. The study addresses a criticism of past research by relying on objective measures of community contextual characteristics and aggregated data from self-reported, individual substance use surveys. By analyzing 40 counties in the state of Illinois, we test the results of multivariate models for youth use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. Results indicate that community disorganization is an important risk factor for ATOD use while family supports is an important protective factor. Contrary to expectations, greater economic constraints decreases, rather than increases, substance use. Findings regarding the other variables were mixed.

Public Health Governance and Population Health Outcomes

Research reviews have identified a gap in understanding the diversity of health department governance structures and in understanding how the variations in governing relates to health outcomes. This report details the categorization of local public health governance and reveals that certain governance types may be better suited to achieve better population health outcomes. State systems achieve the poorest health outcomes, but the best health outcomes are achieved when the political branches have a key role in local public health governance. Public health systems should consider greater local control and involvement in governance; but local governance should include the political branches -and even the state -to achieve more positive health outcomes.

Secondhand Tobacco Smoke and Municipal Smokefree Ordinances: Attitudes of Restaurant and Bar Owners and Managers

Understanding the attitudes of restaurant and bar owners and managers toward a smokefree city ordinance can contribute greatly to the success of a smokefree policy campaign. While local opposition to a smokefree policy always arises from restaurant and bar owners, this study of restaurant and bar owners and managers in two Midwestern cities reveals that over two-thirds (67.1%) support a smokefree restaurant policy, and over 40% support a policy that would include bars. Moreover, most prefer the local government to require the city to be smokefree rather than choose to go smokefree on their own: only 1 in 5 would even consider going smokefree independently. The study explains that this is primarily due to widespread and unfounded fears of economic loss. Finally, the article recommends that education campaigns encouraging individual restaurants to go smokefree would be a far less effective strategy than persuading a municipal government to enact a smokefree ordinance.